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Wednesday, 9 August 2017

The collapse of the Soviet Union in the eyes of some economists validated the market principles that are the underpinnings of globalism: the view, as Æon magazine explores (one can listen to the essay at the link, as well), that government exist for the sole purpose of regulating and sustaining constructed markets and should not be in the business of vouchsafing the welfare of its subjects. Self-interest redresses and supplants those basic services like mass-transit, food safety, libraries, etc. This increasing popular point of view (championed by many adherents including the US Secretary of State and top diplomat Rexxon-Mobil), characterised as neoliberalism by its critics, signals a major shift in how we talk and think about the nature of work and careers, paradoxically not increasing the feeling of loyalty and job security as countries move towards more and more advanced economies, but rather the opposite. Those marginally engaged in the workforce live in constant worry of becoming redundant at the whims of a corporate entity immeasurably bigger than any single cog (cog perhaps being an over-estimation of one’s importance), and for those fortunate enough to have a more comfortable working arrangement, every position is seen as developmental and an incremental step to the next opportunity. In short, workers are either terrified into obedience or abeyance flattens hierarchy and creates a class of passionate quitters.